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I am in a situation where I need to change bulbs in my bathroom, but my bulbs look weird, and can't find right bulbs for our light.

The bulbs that I took out look like this. There are wires coming out. I had to cut them when I remove the bulbs from a socket.

enter image description here

We showed the bulbs to Home depo guy. He thinks that I should have removed the base, but I don't see any base.. This is how the socket looks like after I removed the bulbs.

enter image description here

Will I ever be able to find right bulbs? Can someone please help?

fairyberry
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2 Answers2

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Those are 2 or 4 pin CFL bulbs. Sorta like this:

4 pin cfl example

Technically, you should handle them with care, as the contents of the tubes are toxic.

Turn off the power to the light, wear sturdy gloves, and pull the bottom part of the bulb straight out of the socket. (Straight out means the direction that the tubes were going.)

With this end in a plastic baggie, you'll be able to find an appropriate replacement at the hardware store.

Aloysius Defenestrate
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What you've done is partially disassembled the bulb itself by splitting the base and leaving part of it behind in the socket.
enter image description here

You need to remove the rest of the base from the socket before you can replace the bulb.

The Philips bulb you bought is probably correct. enter image description here
Note the groove it has across the fat section of its base - that's probably where you split your old one apart.

brhans
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  • You are right. We bought another bulbs yesterday to try out, but it didn't work. It's because we still have the base stuck to the socket! Thank you! – fairyberry Oct 19 '16 at 15:21